1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an automatic answering telephone system, and more particularly, relates to a method of offering an incoming call switching service in an automatic answering telephone system automatically by registering a telephone number of a desired destination using another telephone system.
2. Background Art
Generally, telephone systems are capable of automatically answering a telephone call and recording a caller's message accordingly. Some telephone systems such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,458 for Automatic Telephone Answering Apparatus issued to Hashimoto, are further constructed to respond to an incoming telephone call by playing back a pre-recorded voice message greeting a caller and requesting for the caller's name for voice amplification via a loudspeaker so that the user can decide whether to answer the telephone call. An automatic telephone answering mechanism for such a telephone system is typically intended to play a pre-recorded voice message greeting a caller upon reception of an incoming telephone call and then to allow the user to play back a caller's message at some later time. The caller's message which is recorded in the absence of the user, may then be forwarded to a registered transfer destination by automatic dialing as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,528 for Automatic Telephone Answering Apparatus With Call Forwarding Arrangement issued to Ueno et al., so as to alert the user of the incoming telephone call. Other telephone systems such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,104 for Telephone Answering Device And Method issued to Weiss, alternatively allows the user to switch an incoming telephone call from the caller to a message recording or answering machine after the user has initially spoken to the caller. The automatic telephone answering scheme with its pre-recorded greetings are cost effective solutions to the unattended or unanswered telephone call. Many callers, however, refuse to talk to a machine. When an incoming telephone call is unanswered by the user particularly in today's business environment, a business opportunity may be lost.
One solution to this problem is to transfer the incoming telephone call to a registered transfer destination where the user can respond to the telephone call directly by automatic dialing as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,221 for Telephone Answering System With Call Transfer issued to Ketring. Generally, an incoming call switching service is provided by an exchange system as administered, for example, by the Korea Telephone and Telecommunication to allow an incoming telephone call to be received by another telephone system located in the same communication area and subscribed to such service. When the incoming telephone call is to be switched or transferred to a registered transfer destination by the exchange system, the incoming telephone call switching function of the telephone system must be physically set by the user and the transfer destination must be directly registered by the user. That is, if the user leaves his telephone system without setting the incoming telephone call switching function, he or she must return to his or her telephone system so as to register the call switching function to be offered to callers. Moreover, if the incoming call switching service is to be canceled, the user must also return to his or her telephone system to cancel the call switching function previously registered in the telephone system. This requirement, as I have observed, is extremely burdensome.